AAUW Reacts to Trump Rescinding Transgender Guidance

February 23, 2017

As a leading voice about all things Title IX, AAUW is dismayed by the Trump administration’s decision to rescind federal guidance related to Title IX civil rights protections for transgender students. While this decision does not immediately change the rights transgender students have under the law, it does make students more vulnerable and leaves questions for schools as to how to best comply with Title IX. Schools still have an obligation to ensure that all students, including transgender students, receive an education free of sex discrimination. However, this decision leaves behind an uneven patchwork of attitudes and rules related to transgender students’ rights, creating chaos for our kids.

Title IX is one of the nation’s most significant civil rights laws, and such basic protections shouldn’t be left solely in the hands of the states. No student’s civil rights should be dependent upon winning the geography lottery — some states protecting students’ rights and others forsaking them. Make no mistake, transgender rights are civil rights. The Trump administration’s cavalier withdrawal of this well-reasoned Title IX guidance is deeply troubling and must be viewed more broadly as an attack on all of Title IX.